


Break with a Banshee - by Gilderoy Lockhart

by Lyanna



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Irish folklore - Fandom
Genre: Book 2: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Break with a Banshee, Breaking with a Banshee, F/M, Folklore, Gen, Ireland, Legends, Mythical Beings & Creatures, banshee - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-06
Updated: 2015-09-08
Packaged: 2018-04-19 09:39:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4741565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyanna/pseuds/Lyanna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My version of Gilderoy Lockhart's first work, published in chapters. About meeting a banshee, landing in prison, falling in love, being in mortal danger, a riddle concerning an amulet and an old ugly innkeeper. Written for general audiences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Arrival

After the train, the northern part of Leinster I had just stepped into felt especially cold and windy. Wrapping my lilac robe tighter around my waist, I strode down the dark alley of shingles that wound its way through an even darker forest. I could only hope that it would lead me to the place I wanted to reach. Chulainne was the largest settlement of wizards and witches in this part of Ireland. Named after the young hero of the well known Ulster cycle, it was a town filled with legends and myths. For this reason I could think of no better place to begin my travels as a newly graduated wizard, hungry for adventures and experience. Just this July I had finished my studies at the renowned Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, naturally at the top of all classes. Choosing the life of the explorer over a carreer in Quidditch or the Ministry (or certainly, any other high-paying job), I had both astounded all my teachers and angered my family. But when I imagined all the wondrous thing I would experience, I could not help but laugh at anyone who chose a different way of living. Listening to the cold winds howling through the trees, I wondered what I would encounter here. Every breeze sounded like a werewolf, every other stone on the ground looked like an old artifact, every oak tree looked like it was alive and bowing down to me, only hesitating to grab me with its massive branches because it could feel that I was more dangerous than itself. After what felt like an hour of walking along the wounded way, dragging my only suitcase after me, a faint shine of light through the branchage got me out of my daydreams. The flickering of laterns shining through the forest gave me new hope, and I started to run towards the town, frozen to the bone and my suitcase rattling after me over the stones. I could not wait for a nice, hot butterbeer.

As I entered the town of Chulainne, my heart made a leap. It looked even more beautiful and mystical than I could have imagined. Old brick-houses overgrown with ivy stood next to ruinous barns and tilted towers. The pebbles on the ground changed to bricks where the first streetlamp stood and the small way broadened to a proper street, fringed by glass bowls that lay on old black lampposts. Each contained a small magical flame, flickering with a strange bluish color. Small bats were circling the lights together with moths and what looked a bit like young pixies. The dark clouds on the horizon perfected the atmosphere of magic and mystique. Being in a much better mood than just seconds before, I walked with a certain jump in my step towards the only house from which I could hear sound. It was certainly a tavern, for I could hear music and laughter seeping through the big wooden door. 

I had only walked halfway towards the tavern when suddenly I felt a lock of my hair getting ripped into the air. Swallowing a cry of agony, I whirled around while simultaneously whipping my wand out of my pocket. Of course I knew instantly what must have happened, even though I wondered why pixies were even allowed to fly freely in a town full of wizards and witches. The little blue monsters raced around my head, trying to catch my hair, my robes and even my wand. Their little sharp claws only inches away from my eyes, I got scratches all over my face. Desperately I tried to shield my wand off from the devilish little thieves. Boxing aimlessly into the air, I felt with relief that I had knocked some of them unconscious. Finally I managed to curse each pixie with the anti-pixie charm, until only a few were left. As soon as they saw their fallen comrades lying lifelessly on the ground, the let out high, deafening shrieks and raced towards the forest. Having escaped the danger, I whipped a lock of hair out of my face and with a grin on my face, I fired a last spell in the direction of the fleeing creatures. I heard a quiet “thump”, as the pixies crashed together in the fishernet I had just made appear around them. It was followed by another “thump” as the bundle of pixies landed, not very gently, on the street. With a triumphant smile around my lips I picked up the net of shrieking pixies, desperately trying to escape their prison. After petrifying them all with a single spell, I shouldered the bundle and picked up my suitcase. Finally I was able to enter the tavern. The sign on the door read “Daisy Inn”.

I was greeted by a gust of warm air and the mouthwatering smell of food as I opened the door, accompanied by the sound of drunken talk and laughter. Upon the rush of cold wind through the open door, all faces turned toward me and all chatter suddenly stopped. I must have made an imposing appearance, standing in the doorway, bloody face, full blond locks and a flapping lilac cloak, reminding of a picture of a war hero. The silence lasted only seconds and was broken by the innkeeper, an old, round woman with grey hair and a faint sign of a mustache. “A stranger at this time o’ day. You’re a bit young, aren’t ya? And bloody as well. Did you kiss the street by chance?”, she shouted in a deep, croaking voice. Her remark was followed by unanimous laughter. I waited until it was quiet again until I spoke, very softly and calmly, “Not the street, no. It was more like I had to keep a horde of pixies from kissing me. However they didn’t handle my rejection very well”, I added as I swung the bundle with unconscious pixies over my shoulder and dropped it on the floor. After a moment of awe, some people jumped out of their chairs while others whistled approvingly or simply sat there, jaws dropped and eyes wide open. Suddenly I was encircled by a crowd of people who tried to touch me and take a look at the net of pixies.

“Are those real?”, 

“How did you manage to paralyze them even though they’re so fast?” 

“Does it hurt?”, asked a young red-haired girl with dimples, moving her finger along a deep cut right under my eye. “Don’t worry, it’s naught but a scratch”; I answered bravely, suppressing a shiver as she touched my open wound. Looking towards the bar, I saw that even the old innkeeper seemed to be impressed. As she noticed my look towards her, I could have sworn her cheeks turned slightly pink. “Leave the man alone. He doesn’t need a bunch of curious idiots now. I bet he’d rather have a nice hot butterbeer, am I right? It’s on the house”, she shouted with a wink, in a slightly friendlier tone than before. Gratefully I waited until the crowd had made way, then I dragged my things towards the bar and sat down on a high wooden barstool. Only when I placed my elbows on the oaken bar table and let my head sink into my hands I realized just how exhausted I was. The warmth and the butterbeer made me sleepy instantly and I hardly heard it when the innkeeper placed another big jug of butterbeer in front of my face. “Extra strong. By the way, my name’s Dáiríne, but you can call me Daisy”, she added with what I imagine was another wink. I did not raise my eyes to look at her, instead I muttered a “Thank you. Do you have a bed?”, and, after a moment of thinking, I added, “A room I mean. For rent”. 

She giggled in a voice that reminded me more of a little girl than an old ugly woman, then she promised me to show me to a room after I had finished my drink. I was very thankful when she did, leading me up a wooden staircase to a very spacious room with a comfortable bed and cupboards enough to store all my belongings. I could have fallen asleep while still on my feet, and when she told me that I would not have to pay for the night I could only give her a weak smile and a “thank you” before I closed the door behind me and fell into my bed, fully clothed and still covered in blood. I fell asleep instantly. My dreams were filled with pixies and werewolves sitting in front of the tavern, howling towards my window. Had I not been that tired, I would have certainly woken up and realized that the howling was not only in my head.


	2. A woman called Áine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gilderoy meets a young woman in the inn and falls in love with her

I decided to stay in the little inn, first of all because it was a very charming place that filled with friendly people every evening, and secondly because the old innkeeper seemed to fancy me, which meant that I got mostly all I needed for free. However the same was true for almost every business in town. From the remarks and congratulations of the inhabitants I gathered that the pixies had had become a downright infestation in the course of the last months. Apparently nobody had been able to catch them or chase them away. Over time the little devils had stolen many sheep and even dogs, destroyed parts of roofs and had even tried to abduct little children on several occasions. This had lead to less people leaving their houses after sundown, when the beasts were most active, and had nearly ruined Dáirínes tavern. Now the whole town greeted me as their hero and savior, which I found hard to deal with but, of course, I dutifully accepted my role as their new celebrity. 

There were yet two other reasons that made me stay, and they came in the form of a woman and a riddle. It was the evening after my arrival. I had just come back from a walk around the town and sat down at the bar, when Dáiríne greeted me with a jar of honey wine and a “Hello there, young man. You look a lot fresher than yesterday”. It seemed like she gave me a wink every time she ended a sentence. I thanked her with a wide smile which made her blush to a deep pink. “You must know, you saved my business. I am so very sorry that I was so unfriendly when I first saw you yesterday”, she said very quietly, her cheeks turning an even deeper shade of red. It seemed to me as if she was not the person to apologize very often. I assured her that it was alright and that I had found her remarks very funny. As a reaction she let out a shrill giggle and whirled around, pretending to suddenly be very busy with her box of cash. Slightly irritated I began to look around. With a grin I noticed that Dáiríne had hung up one of the pixies as a trophy on the wall behind the bar. The blue creature was still paralyzed, however it’s eyes seemed to follow me angrily. Amused I wondered what the old woman had done with the other pixies. Maybe, I thought, it would be a good idea to get friendly with some residents that were not absolutely crazy after me. 

To my right, three men and a woman were apparently playing a drinking game which involved a pack of cards and a magic bowl in the middle. The bowl seemed to randomly spit out and swallow cards. Right behind me a group of youngsters, definitely younger than myself, were loudly singing “The ballad of Jean and John and the Fairy queen” while emptying one shot of something green and slimy after another. Uninterested by such shallow amusement, my view wandered towards the table to my left, hidden in the corner of the tavern, where it got stuck. A beautiful young woman with pale skin and long black hair, dressed in a thin grey gown and an even thinner jacked had caught my eyes, and I couldn’t break away from her sight. Her eyes were blue like morning skies and her lips thick and pale. Her hair was long and silky, her hands so delicate and thin, her nails long and brittle. She had a faint mark of red in her eyes, as though she had just cried. Next to her the vultures had already gathered upon sniffing a chance to get an easy girl. Three young men sat around her in a circle, trying to impress her with drunken stories of heroic doings and ridiculous lies, moving closer and closer to her. One was fat and hairy and looked a bit like a mountaintroll, the second was small and ugly with a crooked nose and a crooked back, and the third looked the most normal, however he definitely wasn’t a beauty. She hardly looked at them, pressing herself into the corner as if she wanted to get away as far as possible from those drunken lunatics. 

After a moment I could not stand the sight anymore. I have always had a little heroic part in me and that showed itself now. I strode to the table and dropped both my hands onto it, right in the middle of the small crowd. With a dangerous grin but calmly I said, “I think the lady wants to be left alone. If you want, you can play a game with me instead. I would suggest a little dueling game. You know, just for fun”, as I took my wand out of my pocket and placed it demonstratively slow on the table. The three lads exchanged a look. From the look of them I assumed that they were already in their twenties, but they seemed to know that they would stand no chance against me. After a moment one of them, the ugliest and smallest, said slowly while getting out of his seat, “No thank you. We don’t want no trouble ‘ere. Actually we got to go now, ‘m I right, Neil? Flinn?”. The others agreed, as it seemed, gratefully, and then hurried out of the tavern. The girl in grey gave me a short look, then dropped her eyes to the table. In a thin, high voice she said “Thank you”. A little confused I said “No problem”, then, gentleman as I am, I took a bow before her and went back to my barstool where half a jar of wine was still waiting for me.

It was just moments after that I saw a movement right next to me. I raised my eyes and looked right in the eyes of the black-haired girl. Causing nearly no sound at all she had taken the barstool right to my left. I had to use up all my willpower to stop staring into her eyes. It was like drowning in a mountainlake. Never in my life had I seen such a beauty. “My name is Áine. I am a stranger here as well. It was nice of you to protect me before”, she said in the same thin, quiet voice as before. “Why certainly! It is every honourable man’s duty to protect a lady in need”; I answered with a smile. She looked up and smiled back at me. She asked me where I was from and what I was doing here, and I told her about Hogwarts (which strangely she did not seem to know) and my plans to travel. When I asked her the same question she told me that she came from a far place which I would not know, and that she was here to visit family. We talked until nearly all the guests had left the tavern, although it was mostly me who talked and mostly her who listened. She was very shy but very friendly. Suddenly I realized that we were alone in the inn. Even Dáiríne had already left (maybe, I thought, because I hadn’t paid much attention to her this evening). The clock on the wall said it was already two in the morning. “I think we should leave. My room is here. Do you have a far way home?”; I asked Áine. With a blush she answered that she would have to walk very far, and that she was scared to walk the way alone at night. I proposed that I would bring her home. However she replied: “I would rather not walk the whole way home. I am very tired and a bit drunk from the wine. Can I maybe sleep in your room?”. Of course I said yes and like a gentleman I escorted her up the stairs and into my room. 

I got woken up hours later by a howling sound right below my window. Looking next to me I realized that Áine had left. I was worried, but after all, she was a grown woman. I expected she had gone home after all. Another long howling sound. It sounded a bit like a wolf, but higher, sadder of some sort. Alarmed I jumped out of bed, opened the window and stuck my head outside. It was pitch black. All the lights around the house seemed to have gone out. Whatever it was gave out another terrifying howl, and it came right from beneath my window. I dashed to my nightstand to fetch my wand, whispered “Lumos” and sprinted back to the open window. However when I stuck my wand outside to search the ground, there was nothing but grass. “Ignis fatuus”, I breathed, which made a ball of light shoot out of my wand, illuminating the area of the street that had been bathed in darkness before. The whole street was deserted. Not even a bat was flying around, let alone anything that could have made this sound. Disappointed I decided to ask Dáiríne the next day, for I assumed that she was sleeping in the house as well. Feeling a little powerless I closed the window and crawled back into bed. Despite everything I fell asleep very soon.


	3. The nephew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disappearances

The next day I got up very late. When I came down to the bar, Dáiríne was already up and preparing breakfast behind the counter. The day before I had left the inn before the old innkeeper was awake, partly for the sake of avoiding her. This day, she greeted me with a smile and a loud “Good morning, lad”. I said good morning back and sat down at the table, “I assume you’re staying for breakfast. Well I guess I will prepare for three people then”, she said happily, while enchanted knifes were cutting a loaf of bread into slices. “Three people?”, I asked astounded. “Oh you don’t even know yet. My nephew is living here as well. He has an apartment right below your room. You’ve already gotten to know him by the way. You ushered him out of the bar yesterday”, she explained and laughed. “Was he one of the three young men who talked to the black-haired woman?”; I asked her, feeling a bit embarrassed. I would have nearly dueled myself with Dáirínes nephew. “Yes, the one with short, brown hair. Shane”, Dáiríne said happily. “The short, ugly one with the crooked nose”, I added in my mind. In hindsight I could see the resemblance.

“You must know, his parents disappeared about five years ago. Ever since I’ve taken care of him like a mother. The poor boy, doesn’t know what to do with his life. And has hardly a trace of magic in him. But I love him nonetheless”, she told me dreamily. I still felt a bit unwell about the whole affair, so I just nodded quietly and buried my head in a big jar of Irish tea with milk. “Anyway, he should be awake by now. He’s probably still K.O. from yesterday. I’ll go and wake him before he misses breakfast”, she went on, as she placed a tray with food on my table. She came back when I was just biting into a nice tasty piece of bacon, a very worried look on her face. “He isn’t in his bed. That’s very odd, where can he be?”, she muttered as she let herself fall on the seat opposite me. “Maybe he’s just out for a walk. Or maybe he hasn’t even slept at home, who knows”, I answered (of course only after I had swallowed my piece of bacon). Dáiríne didn’t look any less worried, so I decided to skip breakfast and visit her nephew’s friends, for maybe they’d know more about his whereabouts. 

The first door I knocked at belonged to a small house made of grey bricks. One of the windows was broken and a few cracks were already showing on the walls. It took a few minutes until an elderly woman answered the door, still in her pink morning gown. “Yes, what is it?”, she asked me, surprisingly friendly. “Hello. I am staying at Dáiríne’s inn and I’d like to know if you have seen her nephew, Shane, since yesterday”, I replied with a small bow. She seemed to think about it, then answered, “No I haven’t. You better ask Flinn though, he might know. FLINN”. She shouted his name up the stairs. The young fat lad who had a definite resemblance with a troll came trotting down the stairs, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “What is it? What are YOU doing here?”, he asked angrily. Very calmly I explained to him that his friend was missing, to which he replied, “I really don’t know. Haven’t seen him since yesterday. He definitely went to bed though after you scared us out of Daisy’s. I saw him go into his apartment. And hey, if you see him”, he said angrily, “Tell him he owes me 2 galleons, alright?”, he said grumpily and shut the door before my nose. 

The other young man, Neil, seemed to be from a good family. He couldn’t give me more information either; however he seemed to be a lot more concerned about his friend. “Really odd behavior. Shane usually has a fix routine. Why he wouldn’t be there in the morning, I really can’t imagine”, he said before I left. I asked at the local magic supply store, the tobacco shop, the grocery store and even asked strangers on the street, but nobody had seen the young man that morning yet. I was starting to get worried. When I returned to the inn, Dáiríne was already sitting there in tears, surrounded by three other women, one of whom I recognized as Flinn’s mother, who patted her on the shoulders and gave her hugs, reassuring her that everything would be okay. As she saw me she jumped up and ran to me, wailing in tears, “You found him, haven’t you? Nobody knows where he is” and then she buried her head in my chest. I lay my arms around her and said, “No, I haven’t. But I’m sure he won’t be gone for long. Who knows, maybe he’s stayed with a girl over night” to calm her. Of course I knew that this was impossible. I brought the old woman back to the table and made her sit down again, placing a big cup of hot chocolate in her shaking hand. “He’s never done this before. Why..why would he just disappear? Where is he?”

In the evening, Shane was still missing and by now, the whole town was excited and worried. I took over the bar, since Dáiríne did not feel capable this night. Instead she took a seat in the very corner of the tavern, emptying one glass after the other with a flock of women comforting her and drinking with her. Of course everybody was storming in and asking questions. I was hardly able to ward off all the guests, as suddenly a very drunk Flinn crashed through the door into the bar, shouting, “It was YOU! Who else? You wanted to get REVENGE for yesterday! You were under the same roof! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?”, as he staggered towards the counter, pointing his whole hand at me. “WHERE IS HE?”, he shouted right at my face, spraying spit all over me. Nobody made a move. Then he reached over the counter, grabbed my neck and pulled me towards him. I wasn’t able to breathe, however I did not want to hurt a drunk person. 

“You know about Dáirínes secret, don’t you? I bet you want to torture it out of him”, he whispered so quiet that only I could hear. Then suddenly two invisible hands slapped the ugly fat face in the cheeks and Flinn, looking absolutely flabbergasted, let go of me. “How DARE you accuse HIM?”, a shrill voice screamed from the other end of the room. Dáiríne had stood up, wand in hand, looking furiously at Flinn. “He is a STRANGER. What do you know of him, HA? And all he had to do was walk down the stairs and do I-DON’T-KNOW-WHAT to him”, he roared back at her. “It can’t have been him”, she said quietly. She didn’t have to scream though. The whole tavern was drenched in silence. “WHY? HOW DO YOU KNOW”, Flinn shouted back, the rage still written in his face. “Because he was with me all night. We were in here, talking.”, she said very quietly, looking at the floor and turning dark red. I stared at her, absolutely in shock. Nobody said a word.

The next day I went to the postoffice to send a letter by owl (for which I had to pay) to my family. They hadn’t heard from me for several days now and they might have gotten worried. 

Dear Mum, Dad, Joanna and Erwin,

I arrived safely in Ireland and have found a room at an inn in Chulainne. The innkeeper is a nice woman and the people in town are mostly very friendly to me. On the day of my arrival, I managed to catch a horde of pixies which had made the town unsafe. However strange things have started to happen since I came here. A strange high pitched howling near the inn is keeping me awake at night, but I could not lay eyes on the creature that makes this sound yet. Moreover yesterday a young man has disappeared who lived in the same inn as I do. We do not know what has happened to him, but I am inclined to find out very soon. I will not visit until Christmas.

Joanna and Erwin, how are you doing at school? I still find it funny to imagine all the strange courses you have there. It is still hard for me to wrap my head around subjects like “Physics” and “French”. How do you not constantly fall asleep in class? Joanna, maybe you can lend me a hand with my howling-problem. I know how interested you are in magical creatures. 

Even though I know that it is a long way for an owl and that storms are frequent at this time of year, I hope to hear from you very soon.

With love,

Gilderoy

Shane did not appear again, and as the days flew by, I also became worried about Áine. Ever since the first night I had met her, she hadn’t shown up at the inn again and nobody had seen her since. It soon became clear to me that many people in Chulainne were of a mind with Flinn and seemed to think that I had had a part in the young man’s disappearance. Suddenly I wasn’t a local hero anymore, people eyed me strangely when I walked by and the only place where I didn’t have to pay now was Daisy’s. On one or two occasions, small children even threw stones at me from a distance. The little remark that Flinn had whispered to me while he had tried to choke me, I kept at the back of my mind. There was no use worrying about another little detail. To add to all my worries, the howling still continued to wake me up once a night and I started to suspect that it was connected to the disappearance. To my shame I was never able to either catch or even see the creature that produced it, no matter how many clever and sophisticated magical traps I laid out. It seemed as if the howler was both invisible and bodiless, or could at least turn into both at will. There were also no traces visible in the soft ground below the window.

I spent most of my time, when I didn’t take walks to explore the area, reading through books about magical creatures. However there were just too many possibilities, reaching from sirens over werewolves and other kinds of wolves and cats to poltergeists. Since it was the week of fullmoon, my number one candidate was a werewolf, but howling in front of the same house every night seemed like strange behavior. When I asked Dáiríne whether she had heard anything, she claimed that she had a very deep sleep and that her window was at the other side of the house. However I heard some guests in the inn complain about a wolf keeping them up at night, and ravens were sighted in town even though they usually didn’t leave the forest. A bit more than a week after the disappearance of young Shane, I woke up with the first sunlight, feeling fresher than ever before. It was just at breakfast, which I made myself because Dáiríne was dozing in a corner with a bottle of Whiskey in her hand, that I realized that the howling had not woken me up that night. It had stopped. It was that day that Dáiríne officially declared her nephew as dead and the town started to make funeral arrangements.


	4. A walk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A funeral, a walk and an attacker

It was on a cold autumn day, a harsh wind blowing through the brown and orange leaves and covering the ground with foliage, that an empty coffin was buried in the cemetery of Chulainne. The tombstone was a simple block of granite and the inscription read “Shane O’Neill, 25.06.1958 -15.10.1981, He went away too soon and left back only sorrow”. It seemed like nearly the whole town had come to see the coffin get lowered into the hole in the ground, while a choir was singing old heathen songs and hymns. In the first row sat old Daisy with a handkerchief pressed to her mustache, tears silently flowing down her face. Her flock of old women was, as always, circling her to comfort her and, if necessary, hand her a new glass of whiskey. I stood more in the distance, scared of the reaction of the inhabitants if they were to see me at the funeral. Most of them accused me now of being the criminal who had stolen this young man’s life. Out of embarrassment and moral concerns I didn’t want to repeat Dáirínes made up story of how we had spent the night together over and over again. I preferred to let the affair rest. Before the ceremony was over, I decided to leave the cemetery and take a long walk in the neighboring forest, to clear my head and escape unwanted looks. 

My long green robe brushing against the bushes and coppice, I entered the woods on a narrow earthy path. I had never taken this way before. The surrounding nature was rich and huge enough to take a different path every day. Listening to birds singing and leaves rustling, I went deeper and deeper into the forest, dark green and immensely beautiful with a few rays of sunlight shining through the canopy every once in a while. A single pixie appeared between the trees, but fled the scenery as soon as she saw me. I must have made a memorable impression on the little monster. However the sight left me a bit uneasy, and the feeling wouldn’t leave me when I walked on. The further I walked, the more I got the feeling that I was being followed, and my instincts usually don’t deceive me. I wondered if any of the town’s children had followed me to catch and tease me far away from adult eyes. Or maybe it was just a friendly fairy or a leprechaun, I thought hopefully as I walked across a small clearing. Occasionally I would swirl around in a circle now to look around, but I never even caught a glimpse of anything unusual. 

I soon reached a small river, deep and wide enough to be a problem to cross. As I stood there at the riverbank, thinking about whether I should conjure a bridge, fly over it or just wade through it for the fun of it, I suddenly heard the tiniest of sounds behind me. The cracking of a twig, coming from the path I had just come from. I spun around, while simultaneously pulling my wand and thinking “Tholus protege”, an unspoken spell which I am especially good at. No moment too soon a transparent dome of energy appeared around me, deflecting a spell that had just been fired through the trees. A second later, a wild looking man around the age of forty staggered through the branches towards me, a crazy expression on his face, shouting “Petrificus totalus”. I waded backwards through the river, trying to escape the madman. I couldn’t use my wand. All my magical power was used up by my protection dome, which followed me through the river, blocking all magic that was fired by my pursuer. “Crucio, Ossifragus, Arreste in momentum”, I heard behind me and with horror I saw my dome becoming thinner and thinner with every spell it had to block. I had finally crossed the river and my protection spell started to get little holes everywhere. I knew it was time to face my enemy. 

I whirled around and, destroying my protection, I yelled “Expelliarmus”. The madman blocked my spell with a simple hand-movement, laughing while he did it. This opponent was stronger than I had anticipated. Crazyness shining in his deep sunken eyes, he shouted “Crucio” as he took off, flying across the river without broom or carpet. I blocked the spell with a protection charm. Running backwards through the forest, I shouted “Petrificus totalus”, pointing my wand in his direction. He laughed out loud, blocked the charm and deflected it back at me. I had no time to react, and the spell hit me right in the chest. For a moment I could not breathe, then I felt that I crashed, petrified, to the forest ground. For a short moment I could only see blackness and I thought I would lose consciousness. Then, with a deep, rattling breath, I regained my vision. The madman stood bending over me, grinning a ruined smile, half his teeth missing and the rest black as charcoal. “So, so”, he whispered. “Let’s see if she told you her secret”, and with a whip of his wand, he covered me in the same kind of magical net that I had used to catch the pixies. No spell would get through this net from the inside. In the same instant I felt that the petrifying charm was removed. 

I stretched my aching body while cursing the madman with words I would rather not write down. “Who are you? What do you want?”, I spit at him. “No no no, you’re the one in the net. I ask the questions. How much do you know about Dáiríne? You seem to be pretty close now, don’t you?”, he asked, still grinning. He, as opposed to me, seemed to find the whole situation very amusing. “I know nothing about her. And how do you know that we’re close? What kind of a game is this?”, I shouted back at him, immediately regretting it. Suddenly his expression changed, he straightened up and in a dangerous tone he said “I said I ASK THE QUESTIONS”, and with a whip of his wand I felt that he had broken the bones in my right arm and my right leg. I screamed in agony, tears shot into my eyes. “I know nothing. I just came here a month ago. You are crazy. If I were free of this net, I would kill you instantly”, I yelled in rage, which caused the maniac to laugh again. “I have killed before. Have you? Now tell me, where is the amulet? My master wants it very much, and I live to serve my master”. At these words his face changed to an even crazier, obsessed expression. “I don’t know about an amulet. But I have good relationships with goblins; I can get you a brand-new one, freshly forged, with a real gemstone, for your master”. But the madman was not in the mood for negotiations. Instead he laughed again, and with another whip of his wand he broke my left leg so that the broken bone protruded through the skin. I started to feel dizzy. I was losing blood at a steady rate. “Well apparently you really know nothing. You know the last one, I kept for a little while. Even tried veritaserum, but he knew nothing either. And the old hag wasn’t up for bargaining. So I think I’ll just kill you”, he grinned, raising his wand for the final blow. I closed my eyes, ready to die.

Suddenly everything was filled with a high pitched scream, so loud I feared that my eardrums would burst any second. I opened my eyes. A huge figure dressed in black had appeared floating above the maniac. With a mouth bigger than its own head, it screamed right at him, claws as long as forearms reaching out for his face. The madman screamed in fear, firing spells at the monster that had no effect at all. The figure in black just doubled in size and screamed twice as loud. When he realized that his wand was powerless here, he ran as fast as he could. Just as I saw the last glimpse of his robe disappearing in the forest, I allowed myself to fall into unconsciousness, whispering “Why didn’t you come sooner?”.


	5. An angel in the dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rescue

I woke up in total darkness. A constant sound of water dripping onto rocks told me that I was probably in a cave. When I realized that the net around me had disappeared, I reached for the wand in my pocket. The movement reminded me with a pain like thousand burning knifes that my arm was broken. I used my left arm instead to grab it. “Lumos”. Still lying on the ground, unable to move, I looked around me. My first thought had been correct. Above me were stalactites hanging from a white rocky ceiling. The cave seemed to be so huge that I was unable to see the walls with my wand. “You should probably tend to your injuries first”, came a high whisper from the distant darkness. I was startled. “Who are you? What are you?”, I whispered back. I got no answer. I conjured a ball of light, illuminating the whole cave. There was nothing in there except for me. Finally I decided that the mysterious talking darkness was probably right. Every movement was followed by extreme pain, but in the end I managed to repair all my broken bones with the “Sanaos”-spell, indeed a very difficult piece of magical work, even more when you are in agony. After the last bone snapped back into place, I whispered “Ignis fatuus”, bathing the cave in light again. I got up to search the place, but as soon as I had straightened up a bit, a voice came from a distant corner. 

“Are you looking for me? You better rest a bit before you move.” I spun my head to the source of the voice. In the corner, a rock formation started to shiver and got up, turning into a small humanlike figure, covered up completely in a veil the color of the rocks. Without making a sound it floated towards me. “You were greatly hurt”, it whispered, so close to me now that I could hear it breathing. “What… who are you?”, I whispered back, raising my hand to touch it, to unveil its face. The figure fled back to the corner instantly. “I think they call me bean chaointe here. But in reality I am no one. Bound to this earth even though it is not my home. I must stay until here is no one left to hold me here. But the time will never come”, it breathed, floating above the ground. “Who holds you here?”, I asked, standing up now, very slowly. “My family. I am here to guide them to another place”. Angrily I wondered why magical creatures always had to talk in riddles. “Do you know anything about the strange things happening here in this town?”, I asked, walking slowly towards the veiled figure. 

“I do. But I am not here to tell. I can only tell you, you are in danger. You have come to the wrong house.” 

“Why the wrong house? What is it about the O’Neills that made this man so obsessed? What kind of secret can Dáiríne have that causes so much trouble?”

“This place is filled with legend and myth. Some of them are true, some of them are false. And some of them still succeed in making people obsess over them”

“I could have guessed. What do you know about the young man who disappeared, O’Neill?”

“I have stopped crying for him”, came a last whisper, and with what seemed like a gentle breeze, the figure disappeared. 

I waited for at least another hour for the creature to reappear, searching all the places in the cave, but there was nothing to find except for small bones that must have belonged to birds or other animals that had ended up here. I realized that the cave had to be much bigger than what I could see here, because there were many little side tunnels that had obviously collapsed some time ago. None of them were passable anymore. Disappointed, I began to crawl towards the entry of the cave, a rather small hole in the middle of the forest, hidden by coppice and stones. Just as I had pulled my legs through the opening, embracing the sunshine after hours of damp darkness, I could have sworn I heard a whisper behind me, “You will see me again”. My head swirling with thoughts and a rest of dizziness, I tried to burn the picture of the entrance into my memory, so that I might find it again. However even after the first few steps I took down the hill, I realized that it made no sense. I would never find this place again. 

While walking down the hill through the forest, just hoping it was the right way, I thought about everything that had happened. Obviously everything that had happened here had something to do with Dáiríne. And apparently it was somehow connected to some old legends. I decided to ask Dáiríne when I came back to the inn. I also wanted to reread all the old myths that revolted around this area, even though I knew that this would probably not bring me any closer the solution of the riddle. And just when I had reached the river, all lost in thoughts, I nearly stumbled and fell into the water. Suddenly something had become very clear to me. “I stopped crying for him”, the figure had said. Wasn’t there an old mystical figure in Ireland that would cry for people just before they died? And wasn’t it said that they would howl in front of the dying person’s house? And, I thought as I waded through the water, weren’t they sometimes sighted sitting next to rivers? The pieces fell together like a jigsaw in my head. An omen of death, just like the grim or the raven or a black cat, connected to one family over generations. It was not the reason for death, but a sign. It was a banshee.

So Shane is dead, I thought, walking back the path to the town. Dáiríne must have known about the banshee. It was the day she stopped wailing that Dáiríne declared him dead. And he was probably killed by the man who attacked me today. Or was it yesterday? How long was I gone for?, I wondered as I looked at the sun. It was morning. I must have been in the cave for at least one night. I hope Dáiríne isn’t too worried. I just couldn’t stop wondering what her secret was. After all, I thought, I was more confused now than I had been before.


	6. Neil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A cage

I came back to the inn in the early afternoon, still limping slightly. Dáiríne was alone behind the counter, cleaning glasses with little swooshes of her wand. When she saw me, her face lit up. “Gilderoy! Where have you been? I was so worried. Why are you covered in blood again?”, she shouted, smiling a happy but confused smile. I went up to her and, seizing her arm, I demanded to speak to her in private. With a mix of fear and anticipation on her face, she brought me to her room. I told her of my attack and my rescue, and that I believed that the howling came from a banshee. With every word, her expression became darker and more reserved. Finally I asked her the question that had been on my tongue all the time, “Do you know anything about an amulet?”. She hissed and jumped from her bed, suddenly furious. “I know NOTHING of an amulet. It is dangerous to ask such questions”. “I am already in danger. A man wanted to kill me yesterday because he tried to find the amulet. An artifact that is obviously linked to you and your family”, I said with power in my voice. “THERE IS NO SUCH THING”, she screamed, apparently mad of fear. “You should leave. Your life is in great danger”, she whispered, her eyes popping. Then suddenly she whirled around, leaving nothing but dust in the place where she had just stood. In shock I jumped up, running through the house, searching every room and corner. But she had apparated somewhere further away. My biggest hope of solving the riddle had vanished right in front of my eyes.

I limped back to the bar, determined to honor Dáiríne’s memory by opening a bottle of whiskey, as I heard voices from outside. A moment later, Flinn and two rather muscular looking young men entered the tavern. As they saw me, they all stopped dead. “You again. Where is Dáiríne?”, asked Flinn with a stupid look on his face. They all looked highly suspicious, and I suddenly remembered that I was still covered in blood and soil. “Answer him!”, one of the muscular men demanded. He seemed like a man with power. “She disapparated just a few minutes ago. I don’t know where to, but it seemed like she had urgent business to attend to”, I answered, deciding that it was best not to tell the whole truth. It must have been the wrong thing to say, however. Suddenly the big bulky guy shouted “Petrificus totalus”, and, flabbergasted, I fell to the ground, stiff like a board. “Seize him”, he ordered with a triumphant grin on his face. Flinn and the other ugly lad took me by the shoulders and legs and carried me, like a wooden plank, out of the inn and through the town. Unable to move I recognized only what happened directly around me. People screamed, some shouting “Monster”. Others laughed and pointed fingers at me. It must have been ten minutes at least until they brought me into a big hall (of which I could only see the ceiling), then down a tunnel and finally through a door with iron grids. There they lay me onto the ground. I heard footsteps leading away from me, then a door getting locked and someone saying “Liberatio rigida”. I was able to move again. I jumped up and, realizing I was locked up in a cell, I shouted after the man, “Why am I here? What am I being accused of?”. With a devlish grin the man, who I recognized as the muscular man from the inn, turned around and said “You are accused of the murder of Shane and Dáiríne O’Neill. And you are accused of being a werewolf”.

The cell was cold and damp and it stank of excrements. After one day, I wished I had stayed in the cave. The guards gave me food twice a day; water with plain bread and cheese. Nobody came to interrogate me for a week, and after a day I realized that they let me suffer here on purpose. Accusing me of a werewolf was ridiculous, but I could understand how they got to the conclusion. The howling had started right after I had arrived here, and it had been at fullmoon. And then a young man disappears. And at the next fullmoon, an old woman disappears and I am found after a night of being missing, at the scene of the crime, covered in blood. Still, I thought grimly, it would be so easy to disprove my guilt. There were so many ways to force the truth out of someone with magic. After one week, they sent a specialist from St. Mungo’s hospital into my cell (of course only after chaining me to a wall). It took him only a simple spell to determine that I was not a werewolf. However the guard who was with him demanded some further tests, “An order from the chief of police”. After this, the specialist sighed, but reluctantly injected a solution into my veins which made me feel like my blood was on fire. After I had screamed in pain for several minutes, trying to rip the chains from the walls, the medic gave me another injection which made the pain stop immediately. Exhausted I hung there, my heart racing like after running a marathon. “Do you believe it now? This man is not a werewolf! Otherwise he would have changed into a wolf now. But instead, you caused him minutes of agony. This should be illegal”, the specialist told the guard with anger in his voice. “You can go now. We will demand your presence at the trial”, the guard said with a grin, ushering the medic out of the cell. With a last apologizing look toward me, he took his bag and left the dungeon as fast as he could. 

Even after they had made sure that I was not a werewolf, they still kept me in prison. The guard told me that my trial was to be in a month, grinning from ear to ear. This guy doesn’t like me, I thought. He told me that I was to be interrogated with veritaserum by the town’s specialist. A week after the medic, they sent young Neil down to my cell, together with two very muscular guards. “Hello Gilderoy”, he said, very reserved, and placed a single phial with a clear substance inside on the floor. “Chain him. Then you may leave”, he told the guards, with a very devilish grin. They followed his orders with great joy. As they left the dungeon, I could hear one of them laugh. As soon as they were gone, Neil’s expression changed. He looked very worried now. “Look, I will not hurt you. What they are doing here with you is absolutely disgusting. They only hate you because you are a stranger, and even though others in this town would have much better motives, they accuse you of double murder. You will not get a fair trial here, but if I interrogate you with veritaserum, they might believe me.”, he whispered very fast as he opened the phial. I found no words, so I just hung there for a moment, jaw hanging as well. “Drink”, he told me, and placed the phial at my lips. I swallowed the whole content. A warm, happy feeling started to spread all over my body, starting in my toes and quickly working its way up to my head. I wasn’t able to think anymore. The world looked like white cotton to me, nothing seemed real. From what seemed like a distance I heard a voice ask “Did you kill Shane and Dáiríne O’Neill?” and the only thing that came into my head was “No”, which I happily told the voice. 

“Do you know who killed them?”

“No. I think Shane was killed by a madman who tried to kill me too. I do not know his name. Dáiríne is alive. She disappeared by her own free will. I do not know where she is”  
“Do you know where we can find Shane’s corpse?”

“No”

“Do you know where we can find the madman?”

“No”

“Did the madman talk to you?”

“Yes”

“What did he say about Shane and Dáiríne?”

“He said he “kept the last one for a little while”. I guess it meant he abducted Shane because he thought that he knew something about the amulet. That the old hag wasn’t up for bargaining, I guess he meant Dáiríne. That he killed him when he found him of no use.” I thought for a second. “He didn’t say more”

There was a long silence. Then..

“Why did Dáiríne disappear?”

“I asked her about the amulet that the madman was looking for. She was scared and angry, and then she disapparated right in front of me”

“What do you know about the amulet?”

“I know that it is connected to Dáiríne and that the madman wants it for his master”

Another long silence followed. 

“One last question. If it wasn’t you, who is the werewolf that haunts the village?”

“There is no werewolf. It is a banshee. It wailed for Shane”

Suddenly I was back in reality. Neil must have ended the effect of the veritaserum on me. We sat there in silence for a few moments, then he spoke. “The reason I sent the guards away is that: I didn’t want them to hear of Dáiríne’s secret, in case you knew anything. The thing is, Shane told me of it, when he was drunk. But he didn’t know more than us either. He just knew that there was something odd about Daisy. She seemed to know things that she couldn’t have known. Things that happened long before her time. All I know is that: Dáiríne hasn’t always lived here. At some point she just appeared in this village and told the O’Neills that she was a relative. Then she bought the tavern and has had it ever since. Then, a few weeks after Shane’s parents disappeared, we first heard the wailing. It went on for a couple of nights and then stopped. And it definitely came from the tavern. We all found it strange, you know, there were rumors. Anyway, she’s gone and we can’t ask her now, can we? We have to try and concentrate on getting you out of here.” He spoke very fast and quietly, as though he feared that we would be interrupted any minute. 

“You said something before that made me think. You said ‘The old hag wasn’t up for bargaining”. And then I remembered the stories of ravens flying over the village. It was only that one week. You know, usually owls are used to send letters. But here in Leinster, the more traditional way would be to send ravens. What if she got blackmailed by the abductor? What if we find the letters?” For a moment there was a glimpse of hope in the air. For the first time in weeks, I was able to smile. But then I thought of something and suddenly all hope was gone again. “She would have burned all the letters. If she was so keen on keeping her secrets, we will never find one of them in her house”. We sat there in desperation for a while. Then Neil got up, and looking rather hopeless he said “I will search her house anyway. Maybe a letter arrived after she was gone. Or maybe I’ll find something else. I will get you out of here. Just for the sake of justice. And truth”


End file.
